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Virginia Potts (Earth-616)
, formerly | Relatives = Happy Hogan (ex-husband, deceased); Clay Hogan (former brother-in-law); unnamed adopted son; unnamed adopted daughter | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = Seattle, Washington | Gender = Female | Height = 5'4" | Weight = 110 lbs. | Eyes = Green | Hair = Auburn | UnusualFeatures = R.T. node implanted in her chest | CharRef = | Citizenship = American | MaritalStatus = Divorced | Occupation = Executive; former secretary and personal assistant, superhero | Education = Business administration | Origin = | PlaceOfBirth = | Creators = Stan Lee; Don Heck | First = Tales of Suspense #45 | HistoryText = Virginia is called "Pepper" because of her freckles and red hair. She was working for Stark Industries and spotted an accounting error. She raced to let Tony Stark know. Having saved the company a large amount of money, Stark promoted her to be his personal assistant. Pepper became infatuated with Stark, but things changed when Happy Hogan was hired as Tony's new body guard. The bickering between Pepper and Happy begins almost immediately. Although they bicker, Hogan confesses an attraction to Pepper Potts, who rebuffs him saying she's saving herself to be the future Mrs. Tony Stark. Jack Frost Nearby, Pepper Potts uses the telephone to warn Stark that that Jack Frost is breaking in. In his office, Stark quickly changes into Iron Man. Meanwhile, Happy Hogan rushes in Pepper's office and picks up one of the fallen guard's rifles. As he races inside Stark's office to check on his boss, he is frozen solid by Jack Frost. Iron Man arrives and defeat Jack Frost. Pepper, Happy and Tony gather at Stark Industries to watch the test launch of the new missile test pad. Stark sneaks away and changes into his Iron Man armor, just in case something goes wrong. The Crimson Dynamo is hiding on the outskirts of the launch site, and uses his control over electricity to cause the rocket to go out of control. Iron Man soars into the air and grabs the nose-cone of the rocket, slowing it enough so that he can use his armored body to absorb the impact with the ground. The rocket and its crew are saved, but the impact knocks Iron Man for quite a loop. The Melter attacks Stark Industries and melts through a crane holding a large boulder above a crowed bystanders that includes Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts. Iron Man saves the crowd from the falling boulder, then pursues the fleeing Melter. Pepper Potts delivers the news to Tony that one of his business associates, steel tycoon Charleton Carter, has backed out of a deal. Stark doesn't understand why Carter has done this and drives to Carter's estate in order to take up the matter personally. Later the police visit Stark Industries to inform Stark that Mister Doll has somehow been convincing millionaires to turn over their assets to him and they want his help set a trap so they can catch him in the act. As they leave, a guard is left to protect Stark. He tells the guard that he needs a few minutes of private time with Pepper so that he can ask her out on a date. Pepper is extremely excited by this, and though the guard is unsure, he agrees to leave the two of them alone in Stark’s office. Much to her disappointment, Tony tells Pepper to keep up the act, while he sneaks out and finds Iron Man. After the fight with Mister Doll, Tony and Happy realize they've left Pepper in the locked room, she is was not happy. When Iron Man is requested by the Pentagon to go on a reconnaissance mission into China to find learn what he can about the mysterious Mandarin. Iron Man agrees and returns his office at Stark Industries to prepare for the trip. He has to cancel his appearance at an evening dinner for Stark Industries employees in order to go on this mission. When his friends it starts an argument between Happy and Bill Segrist. Afterwards, Pepper heckles them for not noticing her sexy new makeover. Pepper decides that she desperately needs to take a date to the employee's dinner, so she reluctantly calls Happy, who assumes it is a sign that Pepper really likes him. Tony returns from fighting the Mandarin to in time to attend his employee dinner party, were he meets up with Happy and Pepper. At the main reception room in Stark's Long Island factory Veronica Vogue is tricked away from her promised date to the theater with Tony by Pepper. Tony and Happy drive home were discover the Scarecrow breaking into his safe, he dons the Iron Man suit and fights him and after a few days brings the criminal to justice. When he returns home he gives his Broadway tickets to Happy and Pepper. While out testing his new armor, Iron Man is called back to Stark Industries, where Pepper informs Tony that he is needed at the Pentagon immediately. As he was needed to help stop the Mandarin from recovering a crashed US Satellite. Iron Man foils the Mandarin's plot to collect missiles which the Mandarin has stolen, and destroying the device before riding one of the stolen US missiles back to the States as Tony Stark where he has a date with Pepper. The Unicorn, attacks Stark Industries while Tony is out on a date. During the attack Happy is injured and Pepper is taken prisoner. When Stark learns what happens he realizes that he's shirked his responsibility and rushes to stop the Unicorn as Iron Man. While Iron Man is saving Pepper, Iron Man battles the Unicorn. After the fight Tony and Pepper go to visit Happy who has just been taken off critical condition in the hospital. During their visit, Tony wonders if Pepper's niceties to Happy are to make him jealous or if they are genuine. After saving a Stark Industries worker from an accident on the job, Iron Man is asked by Happy to put in a good word for Pepper and go on a date. When Iron Man tries to suggest the idea to Pepper as Tony Stark later, Pepper jumps to the conclusion that Stark wants to go out on a date with her. Stark takes Pepper out to a fair which features an archer named Hawkeye. After stopping a crime at the fair Tony tries but loses a chance at another date with Pepper when Happy beats him to the punch. Pepper supported Happy in all of his other odd jobs, but they never seemed to last. The couple adopted. While Stark was presumed dead, Pepper and Happy divorced. The reasons have not been admitted, although apparently she had an affair with a former college boyfriend. After Stark's return both worked with him and Stark Solutions in Seattle. Pepper would keep constant contact with Iron Man, relaying information such as news feeds. The two seemed to becoming closer, which did not help Happy's feelings of self-doubt. Stark entrusted Pepper with a special remote that could shut him down. However, Pepper was tortured and was forced to hand it over. The trauma caused her to miscarry. Iron Man was able to deal with the remote, but felt guilty that he had placed her in such danger. Pepper and Happy reconciled. Clarence Ward murdered a number of Stark executives at a board meeting. He had stolen an Iron Man armor from Edgewood Arsenal and was trying to frame Stark (whose identity as Iron Man was public at this time). Pepper and Happy were on an elevator when he attacked (unknowingly saved by the real Stark who called to say something odd was happening and they should be careful), and were thus able to escape. She activated a fail-safe disabling Iron Man armors worldwide. After Happy's death, Pepper was placed in charge of the Order by Stark where she took on the name of Hera. Pepper was again working with Stark at an office function for the new Stark Dynamics in Taipei. Ezekiel Stane's destruction of the building left her critically injured, most notably the presence of shrapnel near her heart. Rand Corporation bionics based on Stark's pacemaker-chestplate design were surgically implanted. Rescue When Norman Osborn began to have his H.A.M.M.E.R. agents storm every Stark Industries building in the world to prevent Tony from receiving any assistance, Pepper escaped after finding a suit of armor specifically designed for her. When Osborn issues an arrest warrant for Tony and sends teams to seize all Stark Industries facilities, Pepper uses this suit to escape just before she herself is arrested. It is later revealed that Pepper’s suit, the Mark 1616, contains an AI version of Jarvis to assist her and answer questions, and it is ideally suited to her biology and cybernetic enhancements. Since then Pepper has been serving as an occasional superhero under the name Rescue, even engaging in highly dangerous situations such as fighting Mokk the Breaker of Stone in the battered streets of Paris, France when Tony Stark was made unavailable. She gradually gained more confidence in superhero work, and often assisted Iron Man and War Machine in defending Resilient against Detroit Steel Corps. After Tony's recent disappearance, she often comes to the rescue in various regional attacks, bringing her in conflict with the new Iron Man. After J.A.R.V.I.S. had revealed that it developed romantic feelings for Pepper, it kidnapped her to keep her away from super heroic duties, but it was deactivated by the new Iron Man, and finally destroyed by Pepper Potts in Resilient's factory along with Potts' Rescue armor, thus leaving her heroic alter-ego behind. She helped Bethany Cabe to reunite heroes from the Dynasty and the Triumph Division to rescue Tony Stark from the Mandarin. | Powers = Thanks to the Repulsor Tech node implanted in her chest, which is linked to her brain, Pepper is able to interact with different types of energies and forces a normal human can't. The R.T. node acts like a new sense for its user. Energy Emanation: The R.T. node not only provides repulsor energy to run devices such as the Iron Man Armor, its user can produce beams of energy at will, possibly weaker and less directed than the Uni-Beam.Based on Tony Stark's experience with a similar R.T. node to Peppers' in Magnetic Force-Field: The R.T. node creates a force-field which can be modified at will by its user by incrementing the power of the Reactor. It can be so powerful to destroy bullets or repel people. It can be so powerful to surpass an electromagnetic field generated by Electro. *'Electrical Fields Detection': As the R.T. node is connected to Tony, he can feel different electrical fields that the Reactor is picking up. This includes all kinds of invisible frequencies. *'Levitation': The magnetic force-field generated by the Reactor can interfere the ones created by the planet and levitate. It's unknown if this interaction can be used to fly. Enhanced Senses: The reactor also increases the senses of its user, allowing Pepper to "hear better" for example. Enhanced Strength: The R.T. node allows who possesses it to have a greater strength. Enhanced Healing and Durability: It has been shown that an user of an R.T. node not only recovers incredibly fast from different types of injuries but also to resist more physical damage than an average human. | Abilities = Despite her lack of training in hand-to-hand combat, she can definitely hold on her own in battle. | Strength = | Weaknesses = | Equipment = None; formerly Potts used the Iron Man Armor Mark 1616 as Rescue. | Transportation = | Weapons = None; formerly the Repulsors equipped in the Iron Man Armor Mark 1616 | Notes = Other Media Pepper Potts has appeared in the Invincible Iron Man segments of the 1966 animated series, The Marvel Super Heroes voiced by Peg Dixon. Pepper Potts/Rescue appeared in Iron Man: Armored Adventures, voiced by Anna Cummer. Pepper was in both of the live action Iron Man movies, along with Marvel's The Avengers, portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow, and made an appearance in the video game based on the film. | Trivia = | Links = }} Category:Cyborgs Category:Armor Users